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The verdict in a case related to the much publicised loan scam involving the Hall-Mark Group has been postponed on an application by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) following the exclusion of confessional statements recorded by two magistrates.
Dhaka’s First Special Judge’s Court was set to deliver the judgement on Wednesday. Following the ACC’s plea, Judge Abul Kashem set Mar 4 to hear the testimony of the magistrates who had recorded the excluded statements.
The case is one of 11 filed 12 years ago against Hall-Mark Group executives and Sonali Bank officials over the embezzlement of around Tk 40 billion.
The trial had progressed to the judgement stage before reverting back to the testimonial phase.
On Wednesday, ACC lawyer Mir Ahmed Ali Salam made an application for the testimonies of the two magistrates who took the confessional statements, which was granted by the judge.
The witnesses are Keshav Roy Chowdhury, now an additional district and sessions judge, and Saifur Rahman, currently serving as the registrar of the High Court.
Among the 19 defendants in the case are Hall-Mark’s Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud, his wife and company chair Jasmine Islam, and several officials from Sonali Bank, some of whom are currently in prison and others out on bail.